Tin Dog
by Scimitarmoon
Summary: Mickey realises what being the Doctor's 'tin dog' really means, and he and the Doctor reconsider their relationship. A reconcilliation fic.


Warnings: A few naughty words.

Disclaimers: Russell T Davies is like a modern Douglas Adams, an English Joss Whedon! Hurrah! Isn't he fabulous! Aren't all of the people actually associated with the making of DW fabulous!

Summary: Mickey realises what it means to be the Doctor's 'tin dog'. Mickey is lovely, so why is the Doctor such a wanker to him? A reconciliation fic, no shipping! And, alack, the Doctor reveals his true name!

* * *

"So what do you do?" Sara-Jane asked politely. Good question, what did he do?

Mickey thought about it long and hard. Sure, he was helpful, wasn't he? After all, Rose would never have been able to look into the TARDIS and save the Doctor, and defeat a largish number of Daleks if not for him. "I, um, I'm the…" Apart from that…Mickey looked at K-9 and realised, all he really did was follow the Doctor and Rose around. Mickey wrinkled his nose up in disgust at himself. "I'm the tin dog." he groaned.

Sarah-Jane raised her eye-brows, "really?"

Mickey had another revelation. He tagged along uselessly like an appendix, and what did he get for it? Constant abuse. _Mickey the Idiot, _that's what the Doctor called him, among other not-very-nice names, the only reason the Doctor let him tag along, it seemed, was purely for the purpose of having something to insult without conviction. "Oh my god!" Mickey exclaimed, his eyes widening, "I'm the Doctor's bitch!"

Sarah-Jane tried and failed to stifle a laugh, "What ever does that mean?"

"I'm his bitch!" Mickey repeated, getting very angry, "all he ever does is belittle me! You know, he doesn't have to have me around, but no, he lets me follow me around! And for what?"

"that doesn't sound like him at all." Sarah-Jane said. "I can't imagine my Doctor having a companion he didn't like."

"Well, he's changed, hasn't he?" Mickey scowled.

"I suppose he has." Sarah-Jane's eyes twinkle with something that resembled both joy and sadness.

"Vindictive bastard." Mickey sniffed.

"That does not compute." K-9's peculiar, high pitched voice rattled.

"I bet it doesn't, you piece of junk!"

"Negative."

"And the Doctor- he may be the last of a great race, but he's still a bastard!"

"that is incorrect!" K-9 declared monotonously.

"sodding…" Mickey started.

"Hey, don't take it out on the robot dog, he's only sticking up fro his master!" Sarah-Jane insisted, petting K-9's head defensively.

Mickey calmed down and backed away, "sorry, I guess you're right."

"I am right, and if you've got a problem with the Doctor, you can take it up with him. If he's being uncivil to you, and you don't know why, ask him! For goodness sake!" Sarah-Jane exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

"Alright then," Mickey said, posturing, "I'll ask him. I'll say, hey, Doctor, what's up with that attitude, man?"

Sarah-Jane put her hands on her hips and looked sceptical. "Not so ghetto, and be nice, you do not want to start a fight with the Doctor."

"yeah. Alright. Yeah, alright!" Mickey said, clapping his hands together to psyche himself up. "Yeah!" His ego increased slightly, Mickey headed off to confront the Doctor. Of course, he found him tinkering around in the TARDIS, as a human man might do so in his car, but of course no human could begin to understand the tinkering of a Time Lord, at least, not at this time in history.

When he heard the door shut, the Doctor looked up, expecting Rose of Sarah-Jane. When he saw that it was Mickey he looked vaguely disappointed and said half-heartedly (or one-heartedly), "Oh, hello."

"Yeah, about that." Mickey puffed out his chest. "Doctor, I've got a bone to pick with you."

The Doctor started fiddling with the TARDIS again, "can't talk now, Mickey, I'm busy."

"I don't care." Mickey persisted, "I was talking to Sarah-Jane, like, and I looked at K-9 and I just realised. You've made me your bitch!"

The Doctor flashed a charming grin, "_Just _noticed? Took you long enough to notice that I don't spank _everybody." _He said with a deliberately nonchalant tone.

"Yeah, joking aside, you do. You have. You treat me like rubbish!"

The Doctor's smile dropped, "No I don't…alright, I tease you a bit, but-"

"Yeah, you do. All you do is drag me around and insult me. You used to call me 'Mickey the idiot' get my name wrong on purpose, don't tell me you were teasing then, cus it didn't feel like it."

"Well..." the Doctor admitted, "I was a bit rotten to you before I last regenerated, but I'm not that bad now, am I?"

"Yeah, right. But you're still a bastard to me."

"Look," The Doctor hesitated guiltily, "you're right, I am a bit of a bastard to you, aren't I?"

"Why?" It was a reasonable, question, uttered with such a sincere tone that the Doctor couldn't help himself but answer truthfully-

"Alright then. I was jealous" The Doctor said, reddening a little.

"Jealous!" Mickey almost laughed, "why?"

"You're human."

"So the unlimited mastery of the universe and regenerating instead of dying isn't all it's cracked up to be?"

"I didn't say it was a good reason." The Doctor snapped, looking hurt. "Every gift comes with a heavy price. Anyway, that's not what I meant. It's Rose. Mickey, she idolises me, but she doesn't really know me at all. She _really _knows you, and that's possible because you're human."

"I guess I understand. Being the last of your kind and all, there's no one in the universe who really gets you. You wish Rose did….Bit emo." Mickey said.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, it's not as if the thought doesn't occur to me at every waking minute."

"Sorry. I'm sorry about all of that, but do you have to take it out on me?"

The Doctor smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry too. Oh, come here!" Mickey found himself at the receiving end of an emotional embrace. He didn't resist, after all, nobody was watching. The Doctor and Mickey coughed awkwardly when it ended, and shook hands in a manly fashion.

"Lets never, ever mention this to anyone." Mickey said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Not even to Rose." the Doctor agreed. "And I promise I'll only be mean to you with conviction. If you're being alright, I suppose I'll have to be nice."

"Yeah. Oh and…can I ask you something?"

"Ask away!" The Doctor grinned.

"Alright then!" Mickey said, "what's your name?"

"the Doctor." the Doctor said innocently.

"That's your title, what is it really?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Promise you won't tell a soul?"

"Promise."

"Alright then." the Doctor beckoned for Mickey to lean in, and looked around as if he thought they were being spied upon. When he had concluded that they were utterly alone, the Doctor whispered; "It's Gloria."

Mickey's expression was static for several seconds before he believed it. "Wow," he said, shaking his head, "you must have had the crap kicked out of you at school."

"Yep. And if you ever repeat it to anyone, including me, your life will be tragically cut short, go it?"

"Got it. Doctor."

"Good."

So it was sorted. When Sarah-Jane poked her head in, she saw Mickey posturing in a manly fashion to himself, and the Doctor doing some console welding with a blow torch in an equally manly fashion. She smiled to herself and shook her head. It looked as if they had finally reconciled their differences. "Nine hundred year old Time Lords, Londoners. Blokes, they're all the same."

K-9 bleeped and concurred, " Yes, Mistress. That is affirmative."


End file.
